Several of the questions I got were holiday related so my options were to get my butt in gear or save the drafts for 360 days. Normally I’d do the latter, but since my Mom is helping with the kids I have a few minutes to look like I’ve actually got my crap together.

Stephanie asks: What holiday traditions do you participate in every year and why do you do them?

There are so many. I am a tradition kind of girl, and our family is all about creating memories. That’s really why we continue with all of them – it’s about the memories.

In the interest of getting this posted today, I must resort to bullets. Please accept my sincere apologies.

*Leaving Acadian tortiere (“meat pie”) for Santa. Milk and cookies be damned. My dad convinced me very young that Santa wanted meat pie & milk. Our Santa wants meat pie, milk, and a big glass of red wine. I wonder what the kids’ kindergarten teachers will say to that? (Primo was actually too tired to do this tonight so we just talked about it. Next year we’ll travel Boxing Day instead of Christmas Eve so we can get more of our traditions done the right way.)
*Eating the aforementioned meat pie, quiche and sticky buns for breakfast Christmas morning after we open our stockings.
*Making & decorating a gingerbread house. It’s an awesome way of creating memories with Mommy & reminds me of the great memories my Mommy made with me. (And also reminds me of burping orange pop out my nose, but that’s a story for another day.)
*We open one gift on Christmas Eve. It used to be anything I chose for everyone, but now it’s pajamas from Grandma. Growing up in the good old days, my Dad & his family used to open their gifts on Christmas Eve before midnight mass and then sleep in Christmas morning. Right until his last Christmas my Dad was too excited to wait until morning so we always had to open one. And then he’d try to convince us that we should maybe open just one more so there wouldn’t be such a big pile in the morning. (I sure missed him tonight when I was playing Santa…he used to get me to hand him presents to feel & guess just like a little boy.)
*My mom & I shop every boxing day as soon as the stores open. We buy all of our wrapping stuff for the next year at 50%-75% off, maybe a few ornaments, some fun stuff & start our shopping for the next year – and then we’re home by noon!

Deb asks: What’s your favorite holiday movie and why?

A Charlie Brown Christmas- not the horrible old animation that Rudolph is (annoying much) but is still old enough to be considered a classic. Aside from the Grinch movies old and new, it’s the one I always look forward to watching most. Last week we had Primo’s buddy over for a popcorn & movie afternoon and watched it. It’s just as I remembered, and the boys loved it! Perhaps it will be a new tradition to have his buddy over every year to watch it. That would be fun, and he lives right across the street so it’d be convenient too! (Did I mention how excited we are to have great friends right across the street? Finally! We’ve always wanted that!)